Earnest

Access to our Creator through our Savior is surely one of the great privileges and blessings of our lives. I have learned from countless personal experiences that great is the power of prayer. No earthly authority can separate us from direct access to our Creator. There can never be a mechanical or electronic failure when we pray. There is no limit on the number of times or how long we can pray each day. There is no quota of how many needs we wish to pray for in each prayer. We do not need to go through secretaries or make an appointment to reach the throne of grace. He is reachable at any time and any place.
~James E Foust, 'The Lifeline of Prayer', Ensign May 2002

*Image source

I've written about prayer before. Remember? It was enlightening for me to write about the topic. They say that a testimony is found in the sharing of it. I have to say that I agree with that. When I write about these topics, my mind centers around the idea and I am able to more fully understand my own feelings.

Well, I'm thinking about prayer again and some new insight that I gained yesterday. First of all, I have to say that The Lord is amazing. He gives things to us in ways we may never expect. Me and the kids were watching PBS yesterday morning like always. On the PBS station that we watch, we are lucky enough that it is connected to BYU TV so we are able to get little tidbits of spirituality throughout the day. Sometimes it's a result of an amazing performance by a BYU dance company or music group. But at 11am everyday, we receive this spirituality through the broadcast of a BYU devotional from the past. Sometimes they are are decades old and sometimes more recent. Yesterday's was incredible! Keep reading....

This devotional was from June of this year and was given by Marilyn Berrett who is a professor in the BYU dance department. Needless to say, my interested was perked. The topic of her talk was Earnest Prayer. I can't even begin to express the amount of inspiration I received from listening to this talk. Things stuck out to me that I didn't expect and I was truly touched by the spirit! She quoted Enos, she discussed this talk by Russell M. Nelsen and shared amazing stories from her life and some were centered around work that she did with the Dancer's Company at BYU.

One part that really stuck out to me was of the importance of kneeling to pray when you are able. This is something that I've always difficulty with. Not for lack of desire, but more laziness. when I was in high school and had broken my back, kneeling obviously painful during the injury and especially painful after. During that time an already shaky habit fell by the wayside and was neglected and subsequently forgotten. We've been working on kneeling with the kids when say our family prayers and that has been working well in teaching them the humbling act. However, I didn't feel the need to enforce the habit upon myself. When sister Berrett was discussing kneeling she said, 'You don't have to be dancer who studies the meaning of movement to recognize the significant symbolism of kneeling." That meant a lot to me because as a dancer, I do know how symbolic it is as a humble gesture. As she discussed kneeling to pray she talked about the spiritual examples where it discusses kneeling including Isaiah where he said that 'Every knee shall bow...." Was I one of those whose knees were bowing?

Well, I'm heavy with child right now and I have been dealing off and on with a knee issue that has caused me pain if I knee just right. But I decided while I was listening that these excuses were just that, excuses. If I am able to pray for the major things in my life, why not ask the Lord to help me in my quest for more meaningful prayers by asking Him to help ease the pain help give me the strength that I need to be able to kneel while I speak with Him.

The Lord knew that I needed to hear this talk. Not that I've been struggling with prayer. Quite the opposite, in theory. Things aren't particularly hard right now, but they're not particularly easy either. Things have gone on in life where I need to have the Lord's help and strength to be able to face them. The thing that needed to change, was how meaningful my prayers were. that is what needed improvement.

What also needed improvement is the example that I'm setting fro my children. I've had both of my girls walk in on my while I'm kneeling to pray and each of them have been worried. I would never want them to think that because I'm on my knees praying that something is wrong. They need to know that something is definitely right. Because where else are they going to learn?

Please go and watch this talk. Click on this link and watch these inspiring words. If you've ever taken prayer for granted, you may not after this.

*Image found here

The Soul's Sincere Desire

About this time last year, I was struggling. I was busy with a new little baby. Overwhelmed by having three little children. On top of that, things were not going all that well at the dance studio. I was getting close to my return and was stressing about finishing choreography so that I would have time to clean up all my routines before the recital. Unfortunately, I don't remember all the exact details, but I was having a difficult time. More than once, I was brought to tears by the sheer stress of the situation, no doubt made worse by the raging hormones!

I remember seeing the video* in the previous post and being particularly struck by the line '...remember that you are spirit of the most creative Being in the universe. Isn't it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God? Think about it--your spirit body is masterpiece, created with a beauty, function, and capacity beyond imagination.' Wow! After hearing that, I also read a talk by Elder David A Bednar entitled Pray Always. In talking about prayer and making it more meaningful, he quoted Alma

Cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord;...Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when though liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when though risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God;...' (Alma 37:36-37)

I mulled over the idea of myself being created by an infinitely creative God and the fact that I should be counseling with Him in all things, it dawned on me. There was no reason that the Lord would not help me out during this time. My choreography was not a trivial matter at the time. My job would be compromised not to mention my own insecurities would be brought to the forefront. The matter at hand was the fact that I was suffering emotionally probably more than most people would believe.

So I took a leap of faith, so to speak, and got down on my knees immediately. All of this happened in the space of a few hours while my kids were all napping. I remember very few things from this prayer but I do remember that it was very meaningful. I know that I expressed gratitude for my talents. I thanked the Lord for a wonderful husband and family who support me in my dancing. I thanked Him for the blessing of having an able body to use as a tool of praise and honor and for the talent to express that.

I didn't have any visions of glorious dancers leaping and pirouetting across the stage. My body wasn't suddenly overcome with the urge to move in a specific way. But I do remember feeling peace. The choreography came to me and all was well.

The full scope of this experience didn't really hit me until a few weeks ago. I was asked by a gal in my stake to choreograph and perform two dance pieces for our stake women's conference. Of course I jumped at the chance. She told me her vision and gave me the music. I listened to the song and I was stumped! The song was beautiful, but it didn't drive me to move. I had nothing to say with choreography. I didn't want to tell her that the song needed to be changed or that we needed to do something else. I don't ever want to mess with someones artistic vision and I certainly wanted to make sure that I was not getting lost in my own selfish whims when the whole purpose of this dance was to glorify the Father.

On the day that I was supposed to meet with a fellow dancer who was going to duet with me, I told that I had no ideas. On top of that, the kids were having a hard time that day and being especially disobedient. I walked into rehearsal with this dear friend of mine and I said, 'I don't know what to do, I think we need to start this all with a prayer.' So we prayed for inspiration. We prayed for peace in our hearts. We also prayed that our kids would behave and let us get it all done.

Again, no visions. Instead, we were blessed with peace. Choreography came easily to us and we were able to make quick decisions of what worked and what didn't. Women's conference is this weekend and I'm so excited for it. I think it's going to be amazing! I know that it wouldn't be half as good if we didn't have the Lord on our side.

While writing about these experiences, my mind turned to another scripture, James 1:5

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

I love this passage for many reasons, but I never thought of it in this context. I feel that whatever we are lacking, if we ask, with pure intent, we will receive what we need.

What experiences have you had with prayer that helped you understand even further the relationship between you and our Father in Heaven?

*You can read that whole talk here

**Image lifted from Mormon Soprano